Ohio EPA’s Ohio Materials Marketplace (OMM)

In April 2017, Ohio EPA launched the Ohio Materials Marketplace (OMM), a significant step to shift Ohio from a “take, use and dispose” model to one emphasizing recycling, remanufacturing, reuse and maintenance.

OMM’s free online materials and waste exchange encourages a dialog between members and provides a forum where they can connect and find reuse and recycling solutions for waste and by-products.

Through OMM’s interactive messaging system, Ohio businesses, not-for-profits and government organizations communicate with other members to advertise and acquire materials that might otherwise be destined for disposal in landfills. Since April, 240 organizations have joined OMM, listing 53 available materials and 22 wanted materials.
Examples of advertised materials and their potential re-uses include:

bulk wooden pallets (mulch base)

used bricks (building materials)

spent foundry sand (to be mixed with potting soil).

Examples of needed items to substitute for raw materials include:

bulk alumina oxide (for metals harvesting/recovery)

bulk food waste in packaging (to be used for anaerobic digestion/energy recovery).

OMM members can save, or even make, money by finding a market for their unwanted materials and avoiding landfill tipping fees. Buyers save money by having access to sellers’ discounted (or free) materials, and Ohio’s environment benefits by having more material removed from the waste stream.